February 18, 2018
Morning Service

As we began chapter 6 last week, we saw the two miracles Jesus performed by the feeding of the 5 thousand men (maybe 15,000 people) and walking upon the water of the Sea of Galilee.  Both miracles fulfilled their purpose as most of those who saw them believed He was from God.  On the next day, crowds again began to collect around Jesus and He perceived that they were not there to worship or learn but to be fed and entertained.  They began to ask Him to feed them daily like Moses did with the manna in the wilderness, wanting a sign but also some food.  So to catch us back up in the conversation, I will read 6:28-40.

John 6:28-40

·        This is one of the seven “I am” statements Jesus makes in the Book of John reaffirming His divinity.  Those who partake of Him will never spiritually hunger, thirst or even die again.  It is our relationship with Jesus Christ that assures that.  In verse 37-40, Jesus makes a powerful statement that He will lose no one who has been given to Him.  All those who make a sincere commitment to believe in Christ as their Savior are secure in God’s promise of eternal life.  Once a child of God, always a child of God even if we are a disobedient one.  Our salvation is controlled by the hands of One who will not fail us.

John 6:41-47 Then the Jews murmured about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from Heaven.”  (42)  And they said, “Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then He says, I have come down from Heaven?”  (43)  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur with one another.  (44)  No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.  (45)  It is written in the Prophets, "And they shall all be taught of God." Therefore everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to Me.  (46)  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God, He has seen the Father.  (47)  Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me has everlasting life.”

·        The Jews are looking at Jesus from the physical realm.  They can see Him only as a carpenter from Nazareth, and not God’s divine Son.  His works should have pointed them to truth, but they could not allow their faith to overcome their sight.

·        Jesus then reveals to us that God plays the most active role in the salvation process.  It is God who calls individuals to believe through the urging of the Holy Spirit.  We then must respond to that urge and choose ourselves whether to accept or reject Christ.  It is through our believing faith that we gain eternal life. Do you remember the day God called out to you?

 

John 6:48-52 “I am the Bread of life.  (49)  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died.  (50)  This is the Bread which comes down from Heaven, so that a man may eat of it and not die.  (51)  I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever. And truly the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  (52)  Then the Jews argued with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

·        Jesus is the Bread of life.  To gain life from Him we must eat the bread; which symbolizes believing, communing and abiding with Him.  This life comes from our relationship with our Savior.  The Jews really began to struggle with this and rather than diffuse their concerns so they wouldn’t be offended, Jesus throws fuel onto the fire.  That fuel however is the truth.

 

John 6:53-59  Then Jesus says to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.  (54)  Whoever partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  (55)  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  (56)  He who partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him.  (57)  As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me, even he shall live by Me.  (58) This is the Bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna, and died; he who partakes of this Bread shall live forever.”  (59)  He said these things in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

·        This was a very shocking statement for the Jews to accept.  The Law strictly forbid the partaking of blood (Lev. 17:10) and the image of cannibalism had to be unthinkable.  They took Jesus literally not realizing He was actually showing how His followers’ life had to become united with His.

·        This of course is explained further by Jesus at the last supper when He explained that the bread is His body and the wine is His blood.  The Apostle Paul further explains this in I Cor. 11 as the Communion service that we partook of this morning.  By our participation in partaking of the body and blood of Christ, we are showing that we are unified with Him and committed to Him. This not only gives us life, but reminds us of the price that was paid for it. 

 

John 6:60-66  Then when they had heard, many of His disciples said, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?”  (61)  But knowing in Himself that His disciples murmured about it, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?  (62)  Then what if you should see the Son of Man going up where He was before?  (63)  It is the Spirit that makes alive, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life.  (64)  But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who is the one betraying Him.”  (65)  And He said, “Because of this I said to you that no one can come to Me unless it was given to him from My Father.”  (66)  From this time many of His disciples went back into the things behind, and walked no more with Him.

·        I believe Jesus purposely made this difficult saying before the crowd to weed out the unbelievers.  He is seeking for committed followers not just fair weather ones.  Those who truly believed that the words that He spoke were spirit and truth, may have not understood, but they would have still chose to follow Him.  The Christian life is one that has some very difficult things for us to accept by faith and yet still choose to be obedient followers.  That is why Jesus compared it to the narrow gate and few there be that find it.  When things get difficult it is only the true believer who follows even if they don’t know or understand where He is leading them.  They simply trust in Him and His character.

 

John 6:67-71 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”  (68)  Then Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life.  (69) And we have believed and have known that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  (70)  Jesus answered them, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? And one of you is a devil?”  (71)  But he spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon; for it was he who was about to betray Him, being one of the Twelve.

·        Becoming a Christ follower is a choice we all have to make.  Jesus laid it out very clearly here before His closest disciples; basically asking them “Are you in or are you out?”  “Do you believe in Me enough to accept My words even when they are hard to understand and the road I choose for you is steep and rocky?”

·        Peter’s words spoke for the group as he affirmed their faith.  “Lord to whom shall we go You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known that You are the Christ the Son of the living God.”  What a beautiful statement of faith that is!  The disciples were in it to win it, committing all to this Man who stood before them that they believed was God in the flesh.

·        Jesus also mentions that there is a betrayer in their midst who doesn’t truly believe.

·        Jesus is asking us the same question this morning.  “Do you believe that I am the Christ the Son of the living God?”  What answer will you give?  Does the life you live line up with that answer?

 

What did we learn about Jesus?

·        He will not compromise the truth to gain popularity or to be “politically correct.”

·        He requires a choice from us to accept Him or reject Him.

 

What can we apply to our lives?

·        We must follow His example and speak only the truth without compromise.

·        We must commit to following even when we don’t understand because we believe that Jesus is the Christ and He is “the Way the Truth and the Life.”

 

Father, thank You for calling us to You and allowing us to eat of the Bread that gives us life.